Alumni Gather In Arizona In Support of Raider Men&#39;s Basketball

April 01, 2010

Mount Union College alumni and friends gathered in support of the Purple Raider men's basketball team in Phoenix, AZ over the holidays. Mount Union competed in the Cactus Jam Tournament hosted by Basketball Traveler's, December 26-30.

To help kick off the tournament the team, along with alumni, family and friends, got to enjoy an evening of NBA basketball at a Phoenix Suns game Tuesday night.

The Office of Alumni and College Activities held a team dinner for everyone at Gordon Biersch in Tempe, AZ on Wednesday night.

More than 60 people arrived and took part in the dinner party for the team.

'It was a great turnout,' said Anne Graffice, director of alumni and college activities. 'We have such wonderful alumni and friends that have been supportive of everything the College has done and it means a lot to see so many this far from home. It is amazing the sense of family and pride that our alumni have in the College."

That pride continued on the basketball court as many turned out each game to cheer on the Raider basketball team. The Purple Raiders went 2-1 finishing fourth out of eight teams. The Raiders fell 76-80 to Simpson (IA) on Wednesday, defeated Roanoke (VA) 50-48 on Thursday and beat Linfield (OR) 73-67 on Saturday.

Dave Brown '54 and his wife Rosemary hosted a cook-out for the team at their home in Phoenix on Thursday evening. Afterwards the Raiders took to the campus of Arizona State University to watch the Sun Devils battle Stanford in men's basketball.

In addition, with a new year closing in, the Office of Alumni and College Activities has already made more plans to reunite more alumni and friends.

'We're really excited about the new year because we have focused on some new projects and enhancing many of our traditional activities,' noted Graffice.

The office has already scheduled a ski trip to Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, NY in February, gatherings in Florida, Washington D.C. and New York, as well as an Ireland Trip in conjunction with the Mount Union Choir in May.